KEY POINTS
  • Media companies looking to make their streaming businesses profitable are leaning heavily on advertising.
  • NBCUniversal, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery were among the companies to highlight ad-supported streaming at their annual pitches to advertisers this past week.
  • Free, ad-supported streaming is playing a big role in the conversation, too.

In this article

This film image released by Universal Pictures shows Mark Wahlberg, left with the character Ted, voiced by Seth MacFarlane in a scene from "Ted." (AP Photo/Universal Pictures)

After spending years amassing streaming subscribers at great cost, media companies now need to make some profits. And they're increasingly leaning on advertising as the answer.

Look no further for proof of that than the most recent annual Upfronts, the events where media companies like Fox Corp., Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney and Comcast's NBCUniversal, made their pitches to advertisers.

In this article